editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Christopher Joyce is a correspondent on the science desk at NPR. His stories can be heard on all of NPR's news programs, including NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.Joyce seeks out stories in some of the world's most inaccessible places. He has reported from remote villages in the Amazon and Central American rainforests, Tibetan outposts in the mountains of western China, and the bottom of an abandoned copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Over the course of his career, Joyce has written stories about volcanoes, hurricanes, human evolution, tagging giant blue-fin tuna, climate change, wars in Kosovo and Iraq and the artificial insemination of an African elephant.For several years, Joyce was an editor and correspondent for NPR's Radio Expeditions, a documentary program on natural history and disappearing cultures produced in collaboration with the National Geographic Society that was heard frequently on Morning Edition.Joyce came to NPR in 1993 as aNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Christopher JoyceFri, 02 Dec 2016 00:02:17 +0000Christopher Joycehttp://northernpublicradio.org
Christopher JoyceA single tornado can cause a lot of damage. But even worse are tornado outbreaks. Just this week, a cluster of at least 18 tornadoes struck the Southeast over two days.Scientists are seeing bigger clusters in recent years, and they're struggling to figure out what's happening.When weather conditions are just right — lots of rising heat and moisture, and vertical wind shear — sometimes you get more than just a tornado. Mathematician Michael Tippett at Columbia University, who tracks these outbreaks, says that while the number of tornadoes nationwide varies a lot year to year, the overall average is pretty steady."But the number of tornadoes in outbreaks is increasing," he says. And the number of tornadoes in the most extreme outbreaks — those where at least a dozen tornadoes hit a region within one to three days — is increasing the fastest.Scientists who study climate suspect that warming temperatures may affect how many tornadoes we get. After all, warmer, wetter conditions are likeTornado Outbreaks Are On The Rise, And Scientists Don't Know Whyhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/tornado-outbreaks-are-rise-and-scientists-dont-know-why
91240 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 01 Dec 2016 23:25:00 +0000Tornado Outbreaks Are On The Rise, And Scientists Don't Know WhyChristopher JoyceImagine you're passing a fast-food restaurant and you smell hamburger on the grill. You're hungry, so you pull in and eat one ... and the foam box it comes in.That's apparently what's happening with some oceanic birds. And now scientists think they know why.The fact that sea animals and birds eat floating plastic has long puzzled biologists. Their best guess was that it looks like food. But the new evidence suggests that for a lot of birds, plastic actually smells like food.It all comes down to a common kind of algae floating in the ocean. The algae is food for tiny animals such as krill — otherwise known as zooplankton. When the krill gobble up the algae, the algae emit a chemical called dimethyl sulfide.Biologist Matthew Savoca says it stinks up the place. It's actually a chemical scream. As he describes it, "The algae are sort of crying out, saying 'Oh my gosh, we're being eaten and can someone please help me.' "That might sound ridiculous but, in fact, help does come — in the formWhy Seabirds Love To Gobble Plastic Floating In The Oceanhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/why-seabirds-love-gobble-plastic-floating-ocean
90389 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 10 Nov 2016 20:55:00 +0000Why Seabirds Love To Gobble Plastic Floating In The OceanChristopher JoyceDuring his campaign, Donald Trump called climate change a hoax. And he vowed to abandon the Paris climate agreement signed last year by President Obama and almost 200 countries.It probably wouldn't be hard for Trump to dump the climate deal.In Paris, the world's nations pledged to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. But the pledges are voluntary. And Jason Bordoff, a former energy adviser to the White House and now with Columbia University, says that gives Trump an opening. "If a country wants to just walk away from its obligations," Bordoff says, "there's little recourse for the rest of the world other than diplomatic pressure, I think."Environmental groups argue that the rest of the world could soldier on without the U.S. But Bordoff notes that the Paris deal starts with modest reductions in emissions — well below the amounts scientists say are needed to avoid the worst effects of a warming climate. It was simply too difficult to get buy-in on tougher cutbacks from manyTrump Has A Chance To Pull U.S. Out Of Climate Accordhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/trump-has-chance-pull-us-out-climate-accord
90362 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 10 Nov 2016 10:08:00 +0000Trump Has A Chance To Pull U.S. Out Of Climate AccordChristopher JoyceIt's been a brutal forest fire season in California. But there's actually a greater threat to California's trees — the state's record-setting drought. The lack of water has killed at least 60 million trees in the past four years.Scientists are struggling to understand which trees are most vulnerable to drought and how to keep the survivors alive. To that end, they're sending human climbers and flying drones into the treetops, in a novel biological experiment.From a distance, the forests of the Sierra Nevada look blotchy, with patches of dead trees standing right next to healthy green ones.Nate Stephenson, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, says the drought and high heat combine to do things he hasn't seen before. "We don't really understand a lot of things," he says, "like exactly how a drought kills a tree, or what's going on underground. Where is the water flowing in areas we can't see?"Stephenson and his team of ecologists pull into a designated spot in the mountains,How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought?http://northernpublicradio.org/post/how-1600-year-old-tree-weathering-californias-drought
89771 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 27 Oct 2016 20:31:00 +0000How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought?Christopher JoyceAntarctica's ice has been melting, most likely because of a warming climate. Now, newly published research shows the rate of melting appears to be accelerating.Antarctica is bigger than the U.S. and Mexico combined, and it's covered in deep ice — more than a mile deep in some places. Most of the ice sits on bedrock, but it slowly flows off the continent's edges. Along the western edge, giant glaciers creep down toward the sea. Where they meet the ocean, they form ice shelves.The shelves are the specialty of Ala Khazendar, a geophysicist and polar expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif."You have this floating plate of ice being fed by the glaciers flowing from the interior of the continent," he says, "while having ocean water underneath it." He calls the shelves "the gates of Antarctica."Although the shelves float, they're still connected to the mainland. The point at which the ice shelf is no longer supported by bedrock is called the "grounding line."A team fromAntarctica's Ice Sheets Are Melting Faster — And From Beneathhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/antarcticas-ice-sheets-are-melting-faster-and-beneath
89646 as http://northernpublicradio.orgTue, 25 Oct 2016 15:23:00 +0000Antarctica's Ice Sheets Are Melting Faster — And From BeneathChristopher Joycehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPkBpaPtDuA A stone tool found in the sand has always been considered the handiwork of early humans and their ancestors. But a remarkable discovery in a Brazilian forest suggests that might not be so.Scientists saw a group of capuchin monkeys making stone flakes, an important type of early tool. It's not clear the monkeys knew what they were making, but nonetheless, it might prompt researchers to be more cautious when they come across ancient sites where similar tools are usually attributed to early humans.You make a flake by whacking two rocks together. It has to be a kind of rock that breaks in a certain way, and you have to hit one rock on another rock to break flakes off the striking rock. The flake is shaped kind of like a scallop shell. Hold it carefully and you've got a knife.The oldest toolmaking like this dates back 3.3 million years and has always been attributed to early humans or, perhaps, our more primitive ancestors such as AustralopithecusThose Ancient Stone Tools — Did Humans Make Them, Or Was It Really Monkeys?http://northernpublicradio.org/post/those-ancient-stone-tools-did-humans-make-them-or-was-it-really-monkeys
89383 as http://northernpublicradio.orgWed, 19 Oct 2016 17:17:00 +0000Those Ancient Stone Tools — Did Humans Make Them, Or Was It Really Monkeys?Christopher JoyceCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit GREENE, HOST: Methane is what many people use to cook with. It is also what rises from landfills and also from the stomachs of cows. Unfortunately, when methane gas reaches the atmosphere, it warms the planet. As NPR's Christopher Joyce reports, research out today reveals new details about how much methane is coming and from where. CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: Methane, pound for pound, is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases. So scientists measure how much is going up into the atmosphere. STEFAN SCHWIETZKE: We know sort of how big the pie is, how large of the total emissions. JOYCE: Stefan Schwietzke is an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado. SCHWIETZKE: What we're really trying to figure out now is how large are the individual slices. JOYCE: How much from oil and gas wells and pipelines, how much from rotting landfills, rice paddies, the stomachs of cows. They all produce methane. But scientists have learned to identify certainNew Research Zeroes In On Sources Of Methane-Emissions Uptickhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/new-research-zeroes-sources-methane-emissions-uptick
88841 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 06 Oct 2016 10:24:00 +0000New Research Zeroes In On Sources Of Methane-Emissions UptickChristopher JoyceThe floods that hit Louisiana last month were caused by rainfall that was unlike anything seen there in centuries. Most of the southern part of the state was drenched with up to 2 or 3 inches in an hour. A total of 31 inches fell just northeast of Baton Rouge in about three days; 20 parishes were declared federal disaster areas.Climate scientists and flood managers suspect there could more like that to come — in Louisiana and in other parts of the country.There have always been extraordinary rainstorms — storms stronger than anyone can remember. But Nicholas Pinter, a geologist at the University of California, Davis, who researches floods, says we shouldn't write these off as once-in-a-lifetime freak events."[In] our experience," Pinter says, "these kind of — call them 'acts of God explanations' — are served up just a little too easily." Sure, he says, amazing rainstorms do happen. But lately, big floods seem to be following storms more often."Hundred-year floods — floods of aOutdated FEMA Flood Maps Don't Account For Climate Changehttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/outdated-fema-flood-maps-dont-account-climate-change
88013 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 15 Sep 2016 09:11:00 +0000Outdated FEMA Flood Maps Don't Account For Climate ChangeChristopher JoyceTropical Storm Colin ripped across the Gulf of Mexico in June and hit the coast of southwest Florida with 60-mile-an-hour winds. Before it arrived, a team from the U.S. Geological Survey used a new computer model to predict how far inland the waves would invade. When the storm hit, the USGS sent Joe Long out to film it.Long is an oceanographer with the USGS. His video shows waves rushing up the beach to the foot of a sand dune. "So water levels are reaching that high," he says as we watch the video. "They are eroding the face of that dune and creating this pretty steep face."Just beyond the dunes, you can see a multistory condominium. "If that dune wasn't there," Long explains, "that water would be going onto roadways or hitting the base of those buildings."When Long goes to the beach, he sees stuff the rest of us don't pay much attention to. He gets excited about "dune toes" (the base of a dune) and "scarp formation" (the creation of a steep dune face). He says he bores his kids atClimate Change Complicates Predictions Of Damage From Big Surfhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/climate-change-complicates-predictions-damage-big-surf
87077 as http://northernpublicradio.orgWed, 24 Aug 2016 18:15:00 +0000Climate Change Complicates Predictions Of Damage From Big SurfChristopher JoyceWhen scientists tallied the temperature readings from around the world last month, this is what they discovered:"July, 2016 was the warmest month we have observed in our period of record that dates back to 1880," says Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.And July wasn't a freak occurrence, he notes. The past 10 years have seen numerous high temperature records.The temperature record for July is an average for the planet, Crouch explains. Some places were a bit cooler than normal — Siberia, for example. But other places were incredibly hot."A temperature in Kuwait on July 22 reached 126.5 degrees Fahrenheit according to an observation taken by the United States Air Force," Crouch says.July's average temperature was only a tiny bit higher than the previous record, but a big jump from what was typical in the 20th century. And the U.S. has sizzled, by and large, along with the rest of the world."We can see that almost the entire contiguousAs July's Record Heat Builds Through August, Arctic Ice Keeps Meltinghttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/julys-record-heat-builds-through-august-arctic-ice-keeps-melting
86872 as http://northernpublicradio.orgFri, 19 Aug 2016 22:33:00 +0000As July's Record Heat Builds Through August, Arctic Ice Keeps MeltingChristopher JoyceA study of drinking water supplies throughout the U.S. shows that numerous sources are contaminated with firefighting chemicals.A team of scientists examined government data from thousands of public drinking water supplies. The water samples had been collected by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.The scientists were looking for several types of chemicals from a class of fluorinated substances used commonly in firefighting foam.They found significant amounts of one chemical in 66 water supplies. Two other versions of the chemicals showed up in nearly 200 supplies. In some cases the level was barely above the maximum allowable limit set by the government. Others were far higher. The researchers say some 6 million people in 14 states are served by these water sources.The chemicals showed up more often near sites where these firefighting chemicals are common, such as airports or military bases. "During firefighting practice drills," says Arlene Blum, a study co-author from theFederal Data Shows Firefighting Chemicals In U.S. Drinking Water Sourceshttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/federal-data-shows-firefighting-chemicals-us-drinking-water-sources
86414 as http://northernpublicradio.orgTue, 09 Aug 2016 21:14:00 +0000Federal Data Shows Firefighting Chemicals In U.S. Drinking Water SourcesChristopher Joycehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ujx_pND9wg Buried below the ice sheet that covers most of Greenland, there's an abandoned U.S. Army base. Camp Century had trucks, tunnels, even a nuclear reactor. Advertised as a research station, it was also a test site for deploying nuclear missiles.The camp was abandoned almost 50 years ago, completely buried below the surface. But serious pollutants were left behind. Now a team of scientists says that as climate warming melts the ice sheet, those pollutants could spread.When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built Camp Century in 1959, an Army film touted it as an engineering marvel — a cavernous home dug into the ice sheet, big enough for up to 200 people. Some sections were more than 100 feet deep. "On the top of the world," the film's narrator intoned, "below the surface of a giant ice cap, a city is buried. Today on the island of Greenland, as part of man's continuing efforts to master the secrets of survival in the Arctic, the United States ArmyMelting Ice In Greenland Could Expose Serious Pollutants From Buried Army Basehttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/melting-ice-greenland-could-expose-serious-pollutants-buried-army-base
86240 as http://northernpublicradio.orgFri, 05 Aug 2016 20:49:00 +0000Melting Ice In Greenland Could Expose Serious Pollutants From Buried Army BaseChristopher JoyceIf you think it's been hot this year, you're right. The latest temperature numbers from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the first six months of 2016 were the hottest on record around the planet.Let's look at June. Scientists took temperatures from around the world and got a June average. What they found was a world that was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the average June in the 20th Century. How about January? Hottest ever. Same with February, March, April and May. Every month in 2016 has been warmer than ever, at least since people started keeping reliable records — that was 1880.How much warmer is 2016 so far? Overall, this year has been almost two degrees warmer than what people experienced in the 20th Century.Now, you may remember, last year broke the record for the hottest year ever globally. But Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist and director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, says that "2016 has really has blown that out of theScientists Report The Planet Was Hotter Than Ever In The First Half Of 2016http://northernpublicradio.org/post/scientists-report-planet-was-hotter-ever-first-half-2016
85382 as http://northernpublicradio.orgTue, 19 Jul 2016 21:05:00 +0000Scientists Report The Planet Was Hotter Than Ever In The First Half Of 2016Christopher JoyceFrigatebirds, seagoing fliers with a 6-foot wingspan, can stay aloft for weeks at a time, a new study has found. The results paint an astonishing picture of the bird's life, much of which is spent soaring inside the clouds.Frigatebirds are unique among aquatic birds. Their feathers are not waterproof, so they can't rest on the waves. Males sport a vivid red pouch along their throats that they inflate when trying to attract females. They're known for stealing food from other seabirds.Since the frigatebird spends most of its life at sea, its habits outside of when it breeds on land aren't well-known — until researchers started tracking them around the Indian Ocean. What the researchers discovered is that the birds' flying ability almost defies belief.Ornithologist Henri Weimerskirch put satellite tags on a couple of dozen frigatebirds, as well as instruments that measured body functions such as heart rate. When the data started to come in, he could hardly believe how high the birds flew.Nonstop Flight: How The Frigatebird Can Soar For Weeks Without Stoppinghttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/nonstop-flight-how-frigatebird-can-soar-weeks-without-stopping
84507 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 30 Jun 2016 18:40:00 +0000Nonstop Flight: How The Frigatebird Can Soar For Weeks Without StoppingChristopher JoyceA team of archaeologists diving near the Greek island of Antikythera have reported a startling new discovery from a previously explored 2,000-year-old shipwreck. The find — a very heavy, metal cylinder — offers new insights into the maritime warfare of ancient times, the scientists say."Of the 40 or 50 shipwrecks all around the Mediterranean, "there's nothing like the Antikythera," says Brendan Foley, an archaeologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He's only recently returned from exploring the ruined ship, which now sits nearly 200 feet beneath the surface, encrusted with sediment and sea life.In 1900, marble and bronze statues brought up by the sponge divers who discovered the ship stunned the world. Even more amazing was the Antikythera mechanism, a mysterious metal device the size of a wall clock. It turned out to be a sort of clockwork computer that predicted planetary movements and seasons with remarkable accuracy.The wreckage drew no further exploration untilAncient Shipwreck Off Greek Island Yields A Different Sort Of Treasurehttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/ancient-shipwreck-greek-island-yields-different-sort-treasure
84361 as http://northernpublicradio.orgTue, 28 Jun 2016 09:02:00 +0000Ancient Shipwreck Off Greek Island Yields A Different Sort Of TreasureChristopher JoyceIt's easy to think that evolution led inevitably to modern humans, the cleverest of apes. But there were some strange excursions along the way. Take, for example, the Hobbits.That's the nickname for a 3-foot-tall human relative that once lived in what is now Indonesia. A new discovery suggests that it was island life that created this dainty creature.Anthropologists first found the bones of the Hobbits in 2004 on the Indonesian island of Flores. Their scientific name is Homo floresiensis.They were chimp-size, with tiny brains and long arms, but they had stone tools and teeth much like ours. They lived about 60,000 years ago. Who were they? One idea had it that larger human ancestors from Africa — likely Homo erectus — ended up on this island. Then they shrank, because on islands, animals sometimes evolve to become smaller. But up to that point, there was no evidence that this "island dwarfism" applied to human ancestors, and people had a hard time accepting it."For some reason," saysFossils Suggest That Island Life Shrank Our 'Hobbit' Relatives http://northernpublicradio.org/post/fossils-suggest-island-life-shrank-our-hobbit-relatives
83478 as http://northernpublicradio.orgWed, 08 Jun 2016 22:46:00 +0000Fossils Suggest That Island Life Shrank Our 'Hobbit' Relatives Christopher JoyceHere's a mystery found in a French cave. It appears that a group of Neanderthals walked into that cave about 176,000 years ago and started building something. Neanderthals were our closest living relatives but they weren't known as builders or cave explorers.Scientists identify the forms as "constructions," but they can't figure out what they were for.It was in 1990 when a French archaeologist first ventured deep into Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France. Spelunkers had just broken through the entrance, which apparently had been obstructed for millennia. The archaeologist traveled deep into the cave, over 1,000 feet. There he discovered something strange — someone had broken stalagmites from the floor and arranged them in two large ovals. But he died before he could fully explore the site.Twenty-three years later, in 2013, a crew of scientists managed to get back to the site. Geologist Dominique Genty with France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) was there."It was veryMysterious Cave Rings Show Neanderthals Liked To Buildhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/mysterious-cave-rings-show-neanderthals-liked-build
82887 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 26 May 2016 09:22:00 +0000Mysterious Cave Rings Show Neanderthals Liked To BuildChristopher JoyceThe Florida Everglades is a swampy wilderness the size of Delaware. In some places along the road in southern Florida, it looks like tall saw grass to the horizon, a prairie punctuated with a few twisted cypress trees. The sky is the palest blue.But beneath the surface a different story is unfolding. Because of climate change and sea level rise, the ocean is starting to seep into the swampland. If the invasion grows worse, it could drastically change the Everglades, and a way of life for millions of residents in South Florida.An experiment is going on here to help scientists understand more about what's likely to happen as the ocean invades. "We're making, basically, artificial seawater here," a guy wearing a mosquito net over his face tells me, as he stirs water in a vat the size of a hot tub.The guy in the mosquito net is Joe Stachelek — a collaborator with Tiffany Troxler, from Florida International University. They're making salt water and pumping it out into the wetland — dosingRising Seas Push Too Much Salt Into The Florida Evergladeshttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/rising-seas-push-too-much-salt-florida-everglades
82840 as http://northernpublicradio.orgWed, 25 May 2016 09:45:00 +0000Rising Seas Push Too Much Salt Into The Florida EvergladesChristopher JoyceA man moves to a city in Florida and decides he wants to be mayor. He wins the election. He's happy. Then he's told his city is slowly going underwater. Not financially. Literally.James Cason had settled in Coral Gables, a seaside town near Miami, six years ago. He ran for mayor on the Republican ticket and, soon after he won, heard the lecture by scientists about sea level rise and South Florida that left him flabbergasted."You know, I'd read some articles here and there," he recalls, "but I didn't realize how impactful it would be on the city that I'm now the leader of."Previously Cason was a U.S. diplomat in landlocked Paraguay. The topic of sea level rise didn't come up much there, he says.But when scientists brought the mayor a map plainly showing that much of Coral Gables would be underwater in a few decades, he wondered why local leaders hadn't tackled the issue before."Even if there are no solutions now," Cason remembers thinking, "at least we need to know what our risks are —Rising Sea Levels Made This Republican Mayor A Climate Change Believerhttp://northernpublicradio.org/post/rising-sea-levels-made-republican-mayor-climate-change-believer
82490 as http://northernpublicradio.orgTue, 17 May 2016 16:44:00 +0000Rising Sea Levels Made This Republican Mayor A Climate Change BelieverChristopher JoyceOn Friday, most of the world's governments are set to sign the most sweeping climate agreement in history. Their signatures will codify promises they made in Paris last December to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.The two largest sources of those gases are the U.S. and China. Whether they keep their promises will in large part determine whether the Paris deal succeeds. And it is by no means clear that they'll be able to keep their promises.The Paris climate meeting was the culmination of years of failure by the world's nations to cut a deal on curbing climate change. Failure in Paris, some people predicted, would likely bury the idea of an international climate deal.Then, just months before the Paris summit, President Obama and China's Xi Jinping stood side by side at the White House and said, "We've got this.""When the world's two largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters come together like this," Obama said, "then there's no reason for other countries — whetherCan The U.S. And China Keep Their Climate Pledges?http://northernpublicradio.org/post/can-us-and-china-keep-their-climate-pledges
81306 as http://northernpublicradio.orgThu, 21 Apr 2016 14:32:00 +0000Can The U.S. And China Keep Their Climate Pledges?